Prize-winning gerbil and his 'mutt' pal make the show

Taylor Doherty, 15, has two gerbils, Picasso and MJ - and both made the best of their talents at the recent American Gerbil Society show.

Cathy Conley

Taylor Doherty, 15, has two gerbils, Picasso and MJ.

Shortly after she got them, the freshman at Fontonne Academy read about a gerbil show being held by the American Gerbil Society in Nashua, N. H., on May 16 and 17.

Taylor and her mother, Colleen, decided to try their luck.

They packed up their tiny contestants, some carrots and sunflower seeds, and made the trip from their home on Elmlawn Terrace to the Holiday Inn in Nashua with no idea of what a gerbil show entailed.

The judges determined that Picasso was a purebred and could compete as a show gerbil.

MJ was a run-of-the-mill rodent with no bloodline but could compete with other gerb-letes.

Picasso spent the day in a cramped Kritter Keeper with only half of a carrot in it on a table with 30 other contestants in the spotted Burmese class.

She was picked up, poked, and measured by some 10 austere judges with clipboards.

Meanwhile, MJ competed in the gerbil games.

She tried to gnaw through a half of a toilet paper roll faster than the other gerbils.

She raced the other gerbils on a track in a hamster ball.

She tried to flip higher than the other gerbils on a trampoline of chinchilla fur.

When the day was over, Picasso had won a ribbon, the only pet store gerbil to be honored.

MJ did not win any ribbons, but gave the other gerb-letes a run for their money.

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The run-up to the big show began in mid-April.

Taylor had her wisdom teeth out. Colleen felt sorry for her and decided to buy her a gerbil at Petco to keep her company.

An honor student with a love of animals, Taylor immediately fell in love with the tiny, soft, buff-colored rodent.

“I called her Picasso because her tail looks like a paintbrush dipped in white paint which splashed little dots of white on her back,” she said.

Taylor decided her miniscule pet was lonely. She adopted a second gerbil at Petco and named her MJ, a sleek black gerbil with white paws.

Within a few days, the two gerbils were buddies.

“They are very close. One sleeps on top of the other. If Picasso is eating, she will turn her back so MJ can’t see her.”

Taylor carries the cage with her around the house.

She puts it on the table while she does her homework.

“She’ll call up to me ‘the girls and I are finished our homework’ when her homework is done,” Colleen said.

Taylor has trained Picasso to run up her arm under her sweater and come out at the neck.

“Sometimes she falls asleep in my armpit,” Taylor said.

Her goal is to get Picasso to stay on her shoulder.

The gerbils are not the only pets in the Doherty house.

They have a big golden retriever-greyhound mix dog, who pays no attention to the gerbils, and a cat who sits and watches them by the hour.

They also have a turtle Taylor gave Colleen on her birthday.

Colleen, a Braintree native, has had a litany of unusual pets (chicks for Easter, a duck she brought to school for show and tell, a parakeet, and many turtles) over the years.

The New England Gerbil Show, one of two a year sponsored by the American Gerbil Society, drew 150 gerbils from across the country, even one from Canada.

The contestants were grouped according to categories with 30 gerbils a class.

The classes included: Self, the color of the belly matches the back; White Bellied, a color other than white with a white belly; Color Point, in which the extremities (nose, tail, paws) are darker that the body; Spotted, spotted with any color other than white; Pied, spotted with a full collar of white around the neck; and Mottled, a pleasant pattern up to 75 percent white

Most contestants were from breeders.

“The breeders were very intense about their gerbils,” Colleen said.

The gerbils were grouped according to age.

Animals up to three months old are considered pups. Picasso was in this group.

The senior class is reserved for gerbils over two years old.

There’s a brood female category where a mother and two offspring are shown. They must be the same colors.

There is a stud male class in which a father and two offspring are shown. They also must all be the same color.

Stringent criteria with a rigid point system are used to judge the one-half pound, two-inch long rodents.

Their bodies must be solid and firm, their heads short and broad.

Their teeth must be perfect, their whiskers long and full.

The fur must be full, fine, soft, short, and smooth.

Their tails must be straight, free of kinks, and ending with a brush-like tuft. They must be as long as their bodies.

Picasso was marked down five points because of a kink in her tail.

Their eyes must be bright, widely set, large and almond shape, their ears small and erect.

They must be gentle to cage mates and friendly toward people. Biting, nipping, or any aggressive behavior disqualifies the gerbil from competition.

Picasso was the only ribbon-winner who was not from a breeder.

A sign on her cage said “pet store gerbil.”

Beside the sign was her third-place ribbon. It was twice as big as she is.

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